A Great Victory in a Pointless War
But the navy got ice cream out of it... Thanks to Dolly Madison!
As was said day of the battle by "Angry Dachshund" Steve [click] "What better way to observe the Fourth/250 than in a great American victory?" Thus, we decided to refight the Battle of Erie, 10 SEP 1813, using his shoestring fleet and "One Hour Age of Sail Wargaming" by John Armatys, a One-Hour Wargames spin-off.
What's a "shoestring fleet" you ask?
Steve built these bad boys from game piece plastics off A-zon, plus some balsa wood, toothpicks, and bits of paper. Cost? Unknown, but quite likely less than a large latte at S-bucks. The hilarious thing is that for all the obsessing many historical gamers put into their miniatures, these look just fine at table distance:
American paint scheme
Spanish paint scheme:
Spanish, British and American paint schemes, side-by-side:
The Scratch-built Sloops:
The best part? The real historical ships were built fast and on the cheap, also!
How much more historical could you want things to be???
Practice maneuvers on the table at gamer distance; American fleet:
...and British fleet.
Not knowing much about the battle myself, I ran with Steve's guidance; The British had two "larger" ships, HMS Detroit and Queen Charlotte which we classed as "1st Rate" in the rules, and four small sloops we classed as "Frigates". The Americans had two "larger" ships, USS Lawrence and Niagara which were classed as "Ship of the Line", and six small sloops, also "Frigates".
This was to balance out the numbers. Using the traditional OHW mechanics, the British larger ships fired at d6+2, the American larger ships at d6, and all small sloops were d6-2 to Hit. This also worked well for the Boarding [melee, close combat, etc] system, which goes by "decks". The British had 10 Decks [3+3 +4@1] and the Americans had 10 Decks also [2+2 +6@1]. This is in the spirit of the OHW rules, so we were pleased with it.
Historically, the British had the weather gauge at the start, and the fleets were converging. We pulled up a picture from the internet to get a feel for it:
In an effort to build some choices for the British, I gave them the best weather angle; the wind is coming from the direction of the American line so they are reaching w' a 6" move [the American fleet is running, so 4" move]. I also gave them four choices of start point, the white dice, so "closest" [where ships are], or 6" farther away ]where ruler is]...
...12" farther away...
...18" farther away.
This gives them an option about how fast and at what angle they wanted to converge with the American line. If they are too far away, then the Americans have the option to either turn away [to their port side] or to cut astern them [turning to their starboard side]. With 1-3 choices for each side on how to converge, we were satisfied there were enough decision points for make things interesting.
Steve chose to be British and decided - like a bloodthirsty dachshund should - to start as close as possible. He lost an Initiative roll, and I as the Patriotic Anniverserists chose to go second, so that I could react to what he did and in effect get the "counter-move".
Turn 2. The British were moving 6" while the Americans could only make 4" due to the favorable wind angle the Slimey Limey's had. Despite this, the angles close up worked a bit in favor of the Americans who got the first shot in.
British Turn 3. Using his faster movement, Steve began to focus significant firepower at Scorpion, using a design flaw in the rules... "drive-by shooting". The rules allow any ship to fire at any point during her movement. As the sides move and shoot alternatingly, this allows one to concentrate fire quite easily as the other side is stationary.
American lead ships Scorpion and Ariel have 9 and 4 Hits apiece! In these rules, at 5 a ship is "Damaged" [-1 to Move and Fire] and R 10 Hits it is "Crippled" [-2].
Sloop Scorpion unleashes her sting against Detroit! However, she missed.
American Turn 3. To retaliate, the Americans turn a point to port, allowing them to fire the lead three ships at Detroit, who they Damage [yellow marker]. They were slowed to a 3" move by the Damaged Scorpion; but now the British line is similarly slowed unless Detroit is to drop out.
British Turn 4. Using their superior speed, the British begin to cross the American's "T", sending Chippawa ahead. HMS Detroit slows the rest of the line down, however, so there's now a 3" gap between her and Chippawa. The fire mechanics allow them to Cripple Scorpion.
Question: with the wind angle as it is, how can Perry exploit this situation?
The Crippled Scorpion will have to drop out of line - she'll slow the Americans down too much at this critical stage of the battle.
American Turn 4. After a bit of pondering [new rule mechanics], Perry decides to continue his movement straight forwards: it will bring more ships in line to return fire while keeping his own force together, mutually supporting.
The Crippled Scorpion moves first and misses against Chippawa [a shame since it was a Rake, double damage]. The Ariel and Lawrence advance and Lawrence rolls a '6' for 3 Hits at Long Range [4-8" is long; <4" is close]! HMS Detroit is feeling the pain but is not yet Crippled.
Note the gap that has opened in the American line due to the speed differences caused by their relative wind angles.
American Turns 5-6. They also advance, concentrating fire against the Detroit which becomes Crippled and the sloop Lady Prevost which becomes Damaged. The Crippled Arieal unleashes both broadsides but misses on both.
Below, end of American Turn 6.
British Turn 7. Barclay rolls a '1' and the wind will change! on a 4-6 it will be clockwise, and he rolls a '5'...
...which brings the wind against the advancing British! They are now close hauled and only making 2" a turn. The Americans are reaching for 6" a turn.
He finishes his Turn with a successful Boarding and capture of Scorpion, hauling the Union Jack up her flagstaff!
American Turn 7. The American line continues to sail straight ahead. As they pass, they sink the Detroit and Cripple the Chippawa.
The American line ends in a tight formation. One Sloop is Crippled the other has Struck and been captured. Lawrence has been Damaged. The British have a sloop Crippled and another Damaged, and the Detroit has sunk. Overall, the Americans are in better shape, but not by much!
British Turn 8. Their line hammers the Lawrence to 14 Hits, with Queen Charlotte alone inflicting 8! Lawrence rolls 4 times to Strike, failing on the last roll [a '6']!
British Turn 9. The undamaged Hunter sinks the Ariel, sending her down to her father, Poseidon. British fire is weak as many ships are Damaged or Crippled.
American Turn 9. A series of devastating rolls Cripples the Queen Charlotte, Lady Prevost and Little Belt. Queen Charlotte and Little Belt strike. Only Hunter is still in the fight. As the Americans have 3 Sloops and a Ship of the Line intact, and the British only have 1 Sloop, Hunter, the British surrendered.
Historical Analysis
British Turn 7. With the Chippawa isolated on the other side of the American line, Steve decides to turn a point starboard and parallel the American line. His lead ship is the undamaged Hunter which passes the Crippled Detroit.
Steve sportingly improvises a mechanic and rolls to wound CPT Barclay, but he survives; only to be court-martialed later, I might add.
Perry survives and mans the rowboat to take him over to Niagara:
American Turn 8. Lawrence falls out of line. The Niagara sinks the plucky but isolated Chippawa, whose crew is now enthusiastically repairing and bailing out the Scorpion...at least there are no sharks on fresh water!
Well, that was a brutual and bloody affair! As can be expected from most naval games, ships take a fair amount of punishment before they have to check. The "Strike" mechanic works pretty well in this simple set of One-Hour Rules by John Armatys, and it is suitable for any historical battle where both sides are committed to fighting a hard battle. Generally, we found the rules worked fine for what we wanted: a quick 1-2 hour game [with conversation] and a decisive result.
Mechanical Problems
1) Drive-by shooting allows excessive concentration of fire. As ships may fire at any point of their move, and when moving the other side is 'stationary', you can easily concentrate fire on an unfortunate vessel.
Solution: The two side alternate Movement, but have a shared fire and close combat sequence after all Movement.
2) Morale worked pretty well in the area of Striking. However, it did not reflect the common difficulty of some ships 'shirking' during a battle, while other more aggressive ships got stuck in and lacked support.
Solution: Ships have to check morale to close within 4" of the enemy; if they fail, they veer away and stay at 4-5", which is long range.
3) Wind Angles were a bit confusing, with multiple measurements needing to be made of either 22.5 or 45 degrees. And there was only four different angles.
Solution: using an octagon, the ships have:
0" into wind,
2" close hauled,
4" abeam,
6" reaching,
4" running.
This also means that ships have to face one of the 8 Directions at all times, so there is no "intermediate" turn between 0, 45, 90, 135, 180, 225, 270, 315, and 360 [0].
In the real battle, the second half of the American line was "slow" to commit to battle, which included the Niagara. This resulted in the Lawrence and two sloops taking on much of the British line, with the Lawrence getting damaged to the point where her fire was not effective. As the Americans did not have the same problem committing to battle in the game, they were able to make better use of their numbers. The 8 v 6 advantage provided 30 more Hits worth of ship, 15 each.
The wind randomly resulted in a similar situation as reality. The British started with the weather gauge [an advantage] but at a critical moment in the heat of battle the wind veered against them by one "angle" of 45 degrees.
The issue of mobility was also distorted a bit in the game, as there were light winds, which slowed the action down; ergo we should have lowered all move rates by 1". This of course makes firepower more important.
Speaking of which, the FIREPOWER was almost the same, largely because we upped the two main British ships a class above the two main American ships.
--> Maximum Hits per Turn:
British = 32 Hits [8+8+(4x4)=32],
American = 36 Hits [6+6+(6x4)=36].
--> Average Hits per turn:
British = 17 Hits [5.5, 5.5, (4x1.5)=17]
American = 16 Hits [3.5, 3.5, (6x1.5)=16]
--> Minimum Hits per Turn: British 6, Americans 2
So the British only have an edge in that IF the Americans are rolling poorly, they drop to nearly no effect at 2 Hits, while the British inflict at least 6 / turn as long as their largest ships are in the fight.
Overall, the Americans had more Hits and the British a bit more firepower.
Below, you can see from the diagram how Lawrence and two sloops took on the main part of the British line, while Niagara and four sloops [and a tiny ship we ignored] slowly came into the fight:
from the USN here [click]
From the second diagram, you can see that the [commandeered] Niagara cut into the British formation, resulting in significant damage to the BritishDetroit and Queen Charlotte. The rear of the American line then managed to overwhelm the British rear. There is an Osprey on this battle, and I found it quite good. There's plenty of history and technical analysis of the ships themselves, as well as the personalities at play, most importantly Perry and Elliott.
We've decided to switch sides and try again, with the few rules issues addressed, and hopefully have just as good a fight as before [and, hopefully, an American victory again!].
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